Lifting jack assembly with rotatable hydraulic cylinder for steering and method of operation

ABSTRACT

A lifting jack assembly for use on a walking machine to raise it off the ground and preselect a steering direction before the walking machine is lowered onto the ground for travel therealong includes a hydraulic power-driven lift cylinder for actuating an extendable/retractable rod, wherein the lift cylinder is rotatable about its vertical axis. A roller assembly is provided with rollers mounted to the rod. A foot plate mounted below the roller assembly engages the rollers, and a power-driven shifter mechanism mounted on the foot plate and connected to the roller assembly shifts the roller assembly along the foot plate. A linkage assembly interconnects the lift cylinder to the foot plate. A steering mechanism rotates the lift cylinder about its vertical axis to impart rotation to the foot plate and the roller assembly to orient and fix the direction of travel of the walking machine in a preselected direction.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent ApplicationSer. No. 61/875,186 and entitled ROTATING CYLINDER STEERING SYSTEM, thedisclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure is directed to lifting jack assemblies which maybe used on large walking machines operable for transporting massive andheavy loads, upwards of thousands of tons, over the ground. Walkingmachines are designed as non-wheeled, power-driven vehicles fabricatedfrom iron and steel, and carry and sequentially transport hugestructures such as oil drilling rigs and their support or servicemodules to pre-drilled, ground-installed conductor pipes. This may bedone prior to drilling well bores in fields undergoing oil exploration,or over existing well bores in previously worked-over fields, or thelike.

Walking machines generally are provided with multiple lifting jackassemblies which operate to raise and lower the apparatus and itssubstructure for transporting it along the ground in a straight line orsteered in a selected direction. The walking machine is steered so thatit is moved to align or orient equipment such as a drilling rigprecisely above a well bore, or move to another area entirely. Thelifting assemblies provided on known walking machines utilize liftcylinders with extendable/rods operable to raise and lower foot platesfor engaging the ground, and a shifter mechanism operates to imparttravel of the machine along the foot plates.

Examples of Prior Art Walking Machines and Systems

There are numerous examples of walking machines and systems which havebeen designed for use in moving drilling rigs for positioning over wellbores during oil exploration. An example of a known walking machine isdisclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,581,525 where a load-carrying transportapparatus for moving a heavy load, such as an oil drilling rig, over asurface includes a substructure for carrying the load, a track memberpositioned on the surface adjacent the substructure and a plurality oflift assemblies mounted on the substructure selectively operable forextension toward the surface to engage the track member and raise thesubstructure above the surface so that it is carried on the trackmember. The lift assemblies are also operable for retraction to lowerthe substructure onto the surface.

A shifter mechanism disposed adjacent to the substructure and the trackmember is selectively operable for displacing the substructure along thetrack member when the lifting assemblies have been extended toward thesurface to raise the substructure above the surface. The shiftermechanism is also operable for displacing the track member on thesurface relative to the substructure when the lifting assemblies havebeen retracted and disengaged from the track member. The track member isdimensioned to provide a steering area and at least one of the liftingassemblies is selectively positionable to a predetermined angle within arange for moving in the steering area along the track member so that theload-carrying apparatus can be steered along a selected direction.

Another example of a walking machine is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No.5,921,336 in which a drilling rig substructure is provided with aplurality of lifting jacks, and each lifting jack is connected to a jackpad. Roller assemblies are mounted at the lower end of the lifting jacksand each jack pad has a center beam that the roller assemblies engage.The jack pads are rotatable in 360° about a vertical axis. A push-pullmechanism extends between each jack pad and each roller assembly to movethe rollers horizontally in relation to the jack pad. In operation, whenit is desired to move to a well bore, the lifting jacks are extended,forcing the jack pad against the ground.

Continued extension causes the upper end of the lifting cylinder toraise the substructure and accompanying drilling rig to move from groundlevel. The lifting jacks now remain in the extended position and thepush-pull mechanisms are then actuated to move the substructure in agiven direction. The lifting jacks are then retracted so that thesubstructure returns to the ground and the jack pad is then raised andmoved to a new position.

A further example of the prior art is U.S. Pat. No. 7,819,209 whichdescribes a guided transport unit for moving a superstructure in angularmovements over a surface. There is disclosed a skid pad, a verticaldisplacing member engaged with the skid pad, a base operativelyassociated with the vertical displacing member, and a directionalactuator. The base includes a planar element for engaging the surfaceover which the superstructure is transported, and a carrier for movingthe vertical displacing member and skid pad relative to the surface. Thedisclosure shows that the side walls of the skid pads are provided withopenings to enable the guided main structures to pivoted to extend atleast partially outside of the skid pads.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure is directed to a lifting jack assembly for use ona walking machine to raise it off the ground and preselect a directionfor steering before the walking machine is lowered back onto the groundfor travel. Multiple ones of these lifting jack assemblies are requiredfor use on walking machines, and the present disclosure details theconstruction and design of one of these only. A principal feature of thelifting jack assembly is that is designed with a rotatable hydrauliccylinder for providing the steering capability. The lifting jackassembly is constructed with the following components.

A hydraulic power-driven lift cylinder is mounted on the walking machineoperable for actuating an extendable/retractable rod, extension of therod facilitates raising of the walking machine and retraction willenable the walking machine to be lowered to the ground. The liftcylinder is rotatable about its vertical axis and this will provide thesteering function, to be described. A roller assembly provided withrollers is mounted adjacent a lower end of the rod, and a foot plate ismounted below the roller assembly for engaging the rollers. Apower-driven shifter mechanism is mounted on the foot plate and isconnected to the roller assembly selectively operable for shifting theroller assembly in a preselected horizontal direction along the footplate.

A linkage assembly is provided to interconnect the lift cylinder to thefoot plate. This is necessary so that a steering mechanism including adrive mechanism connected to the cylinder may operate to rotate thecylinder about its vertical axis to a preselected position with thelinkage assembly simultaneously transferring or imparting the sameamount of rotation to the foot plate and the roller assembly as a unit,thereby to orient and fix the direction of travel of the walking machinein a preselected direction.

The above construction enables rotation of the lift cylinder to fix theorientation of the steering because the lifting cylinder imparts itsdegree of rotation to be transferred to the foot plate. Stated in termsof method terminology, here is how the system operates with a pluralityof lifting jack assemblies, each as described above, mounted on awalking machine First, the rods of the lift cylinders are retracted toraise and disengage their respective foot plates from the ground andthereby lower the walking machine so that it engages the ground and issupported thereon. Next, the lift cylinders are rotated about theirvertical axes to a preselected position whereby the linkage assembliessimultaneously impart the rotation to their associated foot plates androller assemblies as a unit to orient and fix the direction of travel ofthe walking machine in a preselected direction.

The rods of the lift cylinders are now extended to urge the foot platesagainst the ground and thereby lift the walking machine off the groundwith its weight being supported by the lifting jack assemblies. Thewalking machine now is shifted along the foot plates in the preselecteddirection of travel established by rotation of the lift cylinders, andthis process can be continuously repeated.

The steering system of the present disclosure is designed to enablesteering by the unique method of rotating the lift cylinders, in aselected one of multiple modes, namely, longitudinal steering, simplesteering, transverse steering, complementary steering, crab steering andcircular steering. To implement the orientation necessary for each ofthese steering modes, the lifting jack assemblies first must be raisedso that their foot plates disengage from the ground, as described above.The lift cylinders are then rotated to orient the foot plates in thedesired steering mode, i.e., longitudinal steering, simple steering,etc.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a structure showing a wheeled frame tosupport a prototype of the lifting jack assembly and its components,portions being shown in an exploded view for purposes of illustration inaccordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of the lifting jack assembly showing the liftcylinder, roller assembly, foot plate and linkage assembly designed tointerconnect the lift cylinder with the foot plate in accordance withthe present disclosure;

FIG. 3 is a side elevation view of the lifting jack assembly, with thelift cylinder, roller assembly, foot plate and linkage assembly designedto interconnect the lift cylinder with the foot plate in accordance withthe present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view taken along lines A-A of FIG. 3, andillustrates connection of the linkage assembly to the lift cylinder inaccordance with the present disclosure;

FIGS. 5-8 are side elevational views of the lifting jack assembly as itis used in a method in accordance with the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the lifting jack assembly mounted on atest frame to simulate its mounting on a walking machine and correspondsto the configuration shown in FIG. 5 in accordance with the presentdisclosure;

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of the lifting jack assembly mounted on atest frame showing rotation of the foot plate in one direction inaccordance with the present disclosure; and

FIG. 11 is a perspective view of the lifting jack assembly mounted on atest frame similar to the view of shown in FIG. 10 showing rotation ofthe foot plate in direction opposite to that shown in FIG. 10 inaccordance with the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

As stated at the outset, the present disclosure is directed to thedesign of a lifting jack assembly for use on a walking machine, whichalong with multiple similar lifting jack assemblies will be used toraise a walking machine off the ground to be supported solely by footplates provided on the end of each lifting jack assembly. The liftingjack assemblies are designed with a unique steering system which enablespreselection of a steering orientation before the walking machine islowered onto the ground for travel in the preselected direction. Thepreselected mode may be longitudinal steering, simple steering, etc. Thedrive mechanism includes a slew drive maintained in position on thefirst mounting plate by stationary ring mount members.

Preselection of the steering direction is accomplished by rotation ofthe lift cylinders on the lifting jack assemblies, about their verticalaxes, as shown in the construction that follows. It is to be understoodthat a walking machine, in the context of the large structurescontemplated here, will be non-wheeled machines in which lifting jackassemblies of the present disclosure will be utilized. The drawingswhich follow show a wheeled structure on which a single lifting jackassembly is mounted, but such lifting jack assemblies normally would bemounted in multiple units on the large, spaced apart beams of a walkingmachine.

As shown in FIG. 1, a test frame structure is illustrated generally at10, with portions shown detached or in an exploded view. As mentioned, awalking machine would not include wheels for transport, and thestructure at 10, which is shown with wheels, is provided to test theoperability of a single lifting jack assembly in accordance with thepresent disclosure. Hydraulic pumps and lines, plus other controlmechanisms necessary for operation of the system are not illustrated inthe drawings, it being understood that such are conventional.

A lifting jack assembly with steering capability is generally indicatedat 12 (see FIG. 2 also) and a drive mechanism for actuating steering isindicated at 14, with components and operation to be described. Ahydraulic power-driven lift cylinder to be mounted on a walking machineis shown at 16, operable for actuating an extendable/retractable rod,which is partially hidden in FIG. 1, but shown at 18 in the explodedview of FIG. 2. FIG. 1 shows a fully assembled roller assembly generallyindicated at 20, and a foot plate 22. In FIG. 2, the foot plate is shownwith a roller pad 23 mounted below the roller assembly for engagingrollers, indicated at 24 which can be seen in the isolated side view ofthe lifting jack assembly of FIG. 3.

The exploded view of FIG. 2 also shows how rod 18 of lift cylinder 16 isconnected to the roller assembly and thence to the foot plate. This isaccomplished by forming an end of rod 18 with a circumferential groove18 a to enable a pair of opposed, receiving plates 19 a and 19 b, havingarcuate interior sides or edges, to engage those edges with the grooveand permit rotation of roller assembly 20 and foot plate 22 when thereceiving plates have been suitably mounted via bolts and spacers to theroller assembly. The roller assembly, which is shiftable along the footplate, is maintained in position above the foot plate by elongate,opposed stabilizer or guide bars 25 which may be assembled throughaligned bores, two of which are shown at 27 a and 27 b, provided inspaced-apart upright brackets or mounts 29 a and 29 b.

As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, a power-driven shifter mechanism indicated at26, comprises a pair of travel cylinders 28 and 30 each selectivelyoperable to extend or retract an associated rod for rectilinear shiftingor translating roller assembly 20 along foot plate 20. An end of eachtravel cylinder is connected to the foot plate, by brackets, one ofwhich is shown at 32 in FIGS. 2 and 3. The end of each rod of a travelcylinder is connected by an arm 34 to an end plate 36 of roller assembly20. As shown in both FIGS. 2 and 3, the travel cylinders have beenactuated to retract their respective rods, thereby retracting rollerassembly to the right of foot plate 22. Shifter mechanism 26 can now beoperated so that the travel cylinders can shift the roller assembly in apreselected horizontal direction along the foot plate. The travelcylinder is selectively operable for extending the rod to shift theroller assembly in a first direction relative to the foot plate and forretracting the rod to shift the roller assembly in a second directionopposite to the first direction relative to the foot plate.

It is to be understood that the construction of the roller assembly,foot plate and shifter mechanism are essentially conventional. What thepresent disclosure will now focus on is components of the lift cylinderand the steering mechanism including drive mechanism 14 as shown inFIG. 1. Operation of a linkage assembly 21 and details of itsconstruction, as shown in FIGS. 2-4, will then be described, as aprincipal focus is the manner in which the linkage assemblyinterconnects lift cylinder 16 to foot plate 22, and how the drivemechanism is interconnected to rotate lift cylinder 16.

As shown in FIG. 1, a cylindrical flange 38 is formed at the upper endof lift cylinder 16, and a housing structure for mounting on a walkingmachine provides a bearing for engaging the flange and thereby enablinglift cylinder 16 to be rotated about its vertical axis to apredetermined position. The housing structure includes a first mountingplate 40 supported by beams or otherwise on the walking machine, hererepresented by the test structure. First mounting plate 40 is providedwith a central bore 40 a for concentric alignment with the vertical axisof lift cylinder 16, and is dimensioned for receiving a drive shaft froma drive mechanism to be described.

A spacer plate 42 is suitably connected to first mounting plate 40 andis spaced-apart therefrom, and a central bore 42 a is dimensioned toreceive flange 38 concentric therewith to permit it to rotate freelytherewithin. A second mounting plate 44 is secured to first mountingplate 40 and separated therefrom by the spacer plate. Second mountingplate 44 includes a central bore 44 a dimensioned with a diameter lessthan the outer diameter of flange 38 (see FIG. 6) and is concentricallyaligned with the vertical axis of lift cylinder 16 for receiving andretaining the lift cylinder. A bottom surface 38 a of flange 38 engagesthe upper surface of second mounting plate 44 (see FIG. 6).

As shown in FIG. 1, drive mechanism 14 is supported on first mountingplate 40 above flange 38 and includes a drive shaft assembly connectedto flange 38 operable for rotating lift cylinder about 16 about itsvertical axis to a preselected position. Drive mechanism includes a slewdrive 46 maintained in position on the first mounting plate bystationary ring mounts 48 and 50. The drive shaft assembly includes adrive shaft 52 keyed or otherwise connected to a rotatable member 54rotatable upon actuation of slew drive 46. Drive shaft 52 extendsthrough central bore 40 a of first mounting plate 40 and central bore 42a for connection to flange 38 of lift cylinder 38 thereby to impartrotation to the flange and the lift cylinder from slew drive 46.

While a slew drive and a shaft assembly have been described above, it isto be understood that other types of drive mechanisms could be employedfor imparting rotation to the lift cylinder. Such systems could includechain and gear drives, direct in-line mounted motors, belt/pulleyarrangements and others. The important aspect is that that there is adrive mechanism operatively connected to the flange of the lift cylinderto impart rotation to the lift cylinder about its vertical axis.

The linkage assembly, which is indicated generally at 21 in FIGS. 1-3interconnects lift cylinder 16 to foot plate 22 and includes first andsecond hinge plates 56 and 58, respectively, pivotally connected to eachother along a hinge axis 60, wherein first hinge plate 56 is alsopivotally connected to lift cylinder 16 via a bracket 62 which isrigidly connected to the lift cylinder. Second hinge plate 58 is alsopivotally connected to a bracket 64 which includes a bore for slidablyreceiving a trunnion mount 66 which extends from bracket 29 a providedon foot plate 22.

The above construction of linkage assembly 21 ensures that rotation oflift cylinder 16 by the drive mechanism simultaneously imparts rotationto foot plate 22 to orient it in a desired steered position, be itlongitudinal steering, simple steering, transverse steering,complementary steering, crab steering or circular steering, regardlessof the extent of extension or retraction of rod 18 relative to the liftcylinder. This feature is accomplished because first and second hingeplates 56 and 58, respectively, are dimensioned lengthwise to pivot awayfrom one another about their common pivot connection as the piston isextended, and pivot or fold toward one another as the piston isretracted. Moreover, the hinged construction enables connection betweenthe lift cylinder and the foot plate when the roller assembly shiftsalong the foot plate.

The Rotatable Cylinder and Linkage Assembly in Operation

The following describes operation of the lifting jack assembly of thepresent disclosure for use on a walking machine to raise it off theground and preselect a steering direction before the walking machine islowered onto the ground for travel along whatever steering mode has beenselected. A series of the steps is illustrated in FIGS. 9-11, showing asingle lifting jack assembly, however multiples operating essentially inunison will be the case on a walking machine proper.

As shown in FIG. 5, lift cylinder 16 has been actuated to retract rod16, and foot plate 22 will be lifted off the ground, so that the walkingmachine (here just the test structure is shown) will rest entirely onthe ground. (There will be no wheels on the walking machine.) FIG. 6 isthe same view, with portions shown in cross section to illustratevarious components of the lifting jack assembly. Roller assembly 20 hasbeen shifted to the left, relative to foot plate 22 by the retraction ofthe rods of the travel cylinders, one of which is shown at 30. Theorientation here is a retracted lift cylinder rod, and a retractedtravel cylinder. In a full-size walking machine, the rods of the liftcylinders are retracted to disengage their respective foot plates fromthe ground and thereby lower the walking machine to engage and besupported on the ground.

It will be noted that in FIG. 5 linkage assembly 21 is positioned withfirst hinge plate 56 and second hinge plate 58 in the orientation shown,spread-apart and non-contacting. In this position rotating the liftcylinders about their vertical axes to a preselected position forsteering can now take place. Rotation is shown in the views of FIGS. 10and 11, to the left and right, respectively, whereby linkage assembly 21simultaneously imparts rotation to foot plate 22 and roller assembly 20as a unit to orient and fix the direction of travel of the walkingmachine in a preselected direction, such as complementary steering,simple steering, etc.

The next step is shown in FIG. 7 where lift cylinder 16 has beenactuated to extend rod 18 to urge the foot plate against the ground andthereby lift the walking machine off the ground with its weight beingsupported by the lifting jack assembly. Now, as shown in FIG. 8, thetravel cylinder is actuated to shifting the walking machine to theright, along the foot plate in the preselected direction of travelestablished by the lift cylinder. In this position it can be seen thatthe hinge plates have folded toward one another to their maximum extent.With the construction shown, the lift cylinder is always connected tothe foot plate, and the linkage assembly permits relative shifting ofthe foot plate relative to the lift cylinder in a rectilinear direction,as well as permitting rotation of the cylinder, about its vertical axis,to be imparted simultaneously to the foot plate to preselect a steeringmode or direction.

I claim:
 1. A lifting jack assembly for use on a walking machine toraise it off the ground and preselect a steering direction before thewalking machine is lowered onto the ground for travel therealongcomprising: a hydraulic power-driven lift cylinder mounted on thewalking machine operable for actuating an extendable/retractable rod,wherein the lift cylinder is rotatable about its vertical axis; a rollerassembly provided with rollers mounted adjacent a lower end of the rod;a foot plate mounted below the roller assembly for engaging the rollers;a power-driven shifter mechanism mounted on the foot plate and connectedto the roller assembly selectively operable for shifting the rollerassembly in a preselected horizontal direction along the foot plate; alinkage assembly interconnecting the lift cylinder to the foot plate;and a steering mechanism including a drive mechanism connected to thelift cylinder operable for rotating the lift cylinder about its verticalaxis to a preselected position whereby the linkage assemblysimultaneously imparts the rotation to the foot plate and the rollerassembly as a unit to orient and fix the direction of travel of thewalking machine in a preselected direction.
 2. The lifting jack assemblyof claim 1 further including: a flange formed at the upper end of thelift cylinder; and a housing structure for mounting on the walkingmachine provided for engaging the flange thereby enabling the liftcylinder to be rotated about its vertical axis to a predeterminedposition.
 3. The lifting jack assembly of claim 2 wherein the housingstructure includes: a first mounting plate supported by the walkingmachine; a spacer plate connected to the first mounting plate andspaced-apart therefrom, the spacer plate including a first central boredimensioned to receive the flange and permit the flange to be rotatedtherewithin; a second mounting plate secured to the first mounting plateand separated therefrom by the spacer plate, the second mounting plateincluding a second central bore dimensioned with a diameter less thanthe outer diameter of the flange and aligned with the vertical axis ofthe lift cylinder for receiving and retaining the lift cylinder with abottom surface of the flange engaging the upper surface of the secondmounting plate.
 4. The lifting jack assembly of claim 3 wherein thedrive mechanism is supported on the first mounting plate above theflange and includes a drive shaft assembly connected to the flangeoperable for rotating the cylinder about its vertical axis to apreselected position.
 5. The lifting jack assembly of claim 4 whereinthe first mounting plate includes a bore, and wherein the drive shaftassembly includes a shaft connected to the drive mechanism and extendingthrough the bore of the first mounting plate for connection to theflange of the lift cylinder and imparting rotation to the flange and thelift cylinder from the drive mechanism.
 6. The lifting jack assembly ofclaim 5 wherein the drive mechanism includes a slew drive maintained inposition on the first mounting plate by stationary ring mount members.7. The lifting jack assembly of claim 6 wherein the linkage assemblyinterconnecting the cylinder to the foot plate includes first and secondhinge plates pivotally connected to each other, wherein the first hingeplate is also pivotally connected to the lift cylinder and the secondhinge plate is also pivotally connected to the foot plate so thatrotation of the lift cylinder simultaneously imparts rotation to thefoot plate to orient it in a desired steered position, regardless of theextent of extension or retraction of the rod relative to the liftcylinder.
 8. The lifting jack assembly of claim 7 wherein the first andsecond hinge plates are dimensioned lengthwise to pivot away from oneanother about their common pivot connection as the piston is extended,and pivot or fold toward one another as the piston is retracted.
 9. Thelifting jack assembly of claim 8 wherein the shifter mechanism includesa power-driven travel cylinder having an extendable/retractable rod,wherein a first end of the travel cylinder is connected to the footplate and the rod is connected to the roller assembly; and wherein thetravel cylinder is selectively operable for extending the rod to shiftthe roller assembly in a first direction relative to the foot plate andfor retracting the rod to shift the roller assembly in a seconddirection opposite to the first direction relative to the foot plate.10. A lifting jack assembly for use on a walking machine to raise it offthe ground and preselect a steering direction before the walking machineis lowered onto the ground for travel therealong comprising: a hydraulicpower-driven lift cylinder mounted on the walking machine operable foractuating an extendable/retractable rod, wherein the lift cylinder isrotatable about its vertical axis; a roller assembly provided withrollers mounted adjacent a lower end of the piston; a foot plate mountedbelow the roller assembly for engaging the rollers; a power-drivenshifter mechanism mounted on the foot plate and connected to the rollerassembly selectively operable for shifting the roller assembly in apreselected horizontal direction along the foot plate; a linkageassembly interconnecting the cylinder to the foot plate including firstand second hinge plates pivotally connected to each other, wherein thefirst hinge plate is also pivotally connected to the lift cylinder andthe second hinge plate is also pivotally connected to the foot plate sothat rotation of the lift cylinder simultaneously imparts rotation tothe foot plate regardless of the extent of extension or retraction ofthe rod relative to the lift cylinder; and a steering mechanismincluding a drive mechanism connected to the cylinder operable forrotating the cylinder about its vertical axis to a preselected positionwhereby the linkage assembly simultaneously imparts the rotation to thefoot plate and the roller assembly as a unit to orient and fix thedirection of travel of the walking machine in a preselected direction.11. A method for transporting and steering a walking machine in apreselected direction comprising: providing a plurality of lifting jackassemblies on the walking machine, each of which includes a hydraulicpower-driven lift cylinder rotatable about its vertical axis andoperable for actuating an extendable/retractable rod, a roller assemblyprovided with rollers mounted adjacent a lower end of the rod, a footplate mounted below the roller assembly for engaging the rollers and alinkage assembly interconnecting the cylinder to the foot plate;retracting the rods of the lift cylinders to disengage their respectivefoot plates from the ground and thereby lower the walking machine toengage and be supported on the ground; rotating the lift cylinders abouttheir vertical axes to a preselected position whereby the linkageassemblies simultaneously impart the rotation to their associated footplates and the roller assemblies as a unit to orient and fix thedirection of travel of the walking machine in a preselected direction;extending the rods of the lift cylinders to urge the foot plates againstthe ground and thereby lift the walking machine off the ground with itsweight being supported by the lifting jack assemblies; and shifting thewalking machine along the foot plates in the preselected direction oftravel established by the lift cylinders.